March 11, 2007

Musings from a newbie

Thanks Oaks for the invite...it's always nice to trade notes with other food types. I've been cooking for almost three decades now, starting at about 5 years old. Yikes! I'll share some favorite recipes soon, but for now, here are some of my favorite cookbooks/cooking magazines. It's a bit of an obsession, and I've been collecting cookbooks for the last decade or so.

The go-to: The Joy of Cooking, 1975 edition. As Alton Brown puts it, "The only book on earth that tells you how to make marshmallows and skin a squirrel." The only thing it doesn't cover is cooking kangaroo. Yeah, I've got other standards, but this is the one I open again and again.

The book I'd save from any burning building:A Treasury of Great Recipes, by Vincent and Mary Price. Yes, that Vincent Price. Basically, he and his wife sweet-talked a bunch of chefs out of their signature dishes and then adapted them for home cooks. Amazing recipes, and the restaurant menus included are a great look at the past.

Anthologies worth finding at estate sales (and giggling when you can get the whole thing for 10 bucks): Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery and Time Life's The Good Cook. Both are incredible resources and great reads. The Good Cook also has great step-by-step photos of techniques.

The one magazine to which I will always subscribe: Cook's Illustrated. Excellent step-by-step instructions and photos, and they've tested the heck out of the recipes. I've yet to have one fail.

Enough of that...on to the food. It was cherry-smoked tri-tip for dinner last night. A bit of salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder, slapped on the smoker for a bit over two hours...yum. I threw on some mushrooms the last hour, and they'll be wonderful with some fresh pasta in a parmesan cream sauce. I hope. I'm beginning to think a smoker should be standard backyard equipment. The disaster for the evening was the apple-cheddar lasagna. An hour making spiced pasta for it, and the whole thing still sucked. Oh well. More next time!

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Disclosure

I have been an employee of Frieda's Specialty Produce since February 2013. Some products are given to me to test and some I purchased from employee sale for personal use. My opinion on this blog whether it's about Frieda's products or anything else are all my own and does not reflect that of my employer's.